Line A (Buenos Aires)

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Buenos Aires Historical "Subte" Line A at Primera Junta Station
Buenos Aires Historical "Subte" Line A at Primera Junta Station
Interior of a well preserved 1919 (refurbished circa 1926) wooden subway car still in use
Interior of a well preserved 1919 (refurbished circa 1926) wooden subway car still in use
Period kiosk stalls on Perú Station attract shoppers while waiting for train
Period kiosk stalls on Perú Station attract shoppers while waiting for train

Subte Line A

Subte Line A is the oldest line of the Buenos Aires Metro. This historical line runs from Plaza de Mayo to Primera Junta, and is scheduled to be extended towards Nazca.

Opened to the public on 14 December 1913, at a length of 7.13 km, Line A is the oldest underground line in South America and one of the world's oldest still functioning today, and becoming an icon of the city of Buenos Aires. It still uses the same cars used in '20s, and there are no plans for their replacement at this time. These cars were built by Belgian company La Brugeoise in 1919 and were refurbished in 1926 when their wooden structure was replaced by a metal one. Between 1915 and 1926, the trains reached Lacarra and Rivadavia streets, in this section the trains ran at ground level, a peculiarity of the original "pantograph" cars on the "underground tramway" is that they had until 1926, both low doors at the ends for boarding from the street and high doors in the middle for loading from platforms in the tunnel. For this reason, "Subte" Line A might also be considered one the continent's first "light rail tram" line.

At present four new stations after Primera Junta are in construction, being Nazca the new future terminal while newer metro carriages are slowly being introduced to handle the increased ridership and demand.

Near the Primera Junta metro station, in the neighbourhood of Caballito, there is a Historical Tramway museum maintained by tram fans that operates on city streets on weekends.

[edit] Stations and connections

  • Plaza de Mayo (at Plaza de Mayo)
  • Perú Line E Line D
  • Piedras
  • Lima Line C
  • Sáenz Peña
  • Congreso (Argentine National Congress)
  • Pasco
  • Alberti
  • Plaza Miserere Line H
  • Loria
  • Castro Barros
  • Rio de Janeiro
  • Acoyte
  • Primera Junta
  • Puán (under construction)
  • Carabobo (under construction)
  • Plaza Flores (under construction)
  • Nazca (under construction)

[edit] Gallery

[edit] External links